It Takes A Village Family of Schools Launches World Scholars Program Crowdfunding on Indiegogo
It Takes a Village Family of Schools (ITAV) is excited to bring back the World Scholars Program (WSP) this year! Since 2010, we have traveled internationally with over 300 students and we are excited to continue post-COVID. This year 25 third through eighth-grade Village Leadership Academy (VLA) students will be traveling to Rwanda.
The ultimate goal is to develop our VLA students into conscientious global leaders of tomorrow.
“The trip is not simply to take students outside of the country, but also to give them an opportunity to conduct service learning. So as we visit countries, we identify service learning projects in which students can get directly involved with helping aspects of the community,” according to social justice teacher, Makinde Adedapo.
While in Rwanda students will visit the Kigali Genocide Memorial which commemorates the Rwandan genocide. VLA students will be guided through the memorial to learn about the causes, realities, and consequences of the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.
They will travel to the King’s Palace at Nyanza, where an oral history of the great battles and power struggles will be shared. At the Museum of Butare, students will see what culture was like before colonialism learning about the clothing, food, production, hunting, storage, music, financial and traditional ritual practices of the Rwanda people. World Scholar students will experience Africa’s Great Rift Valley, Lake Kivu, covering a surface of 2,700 square kilometers. After learning about the area’s ecosystem, students will engage in some fun and adventure, be it cycling, a game of cricket, a canopy walk, or kayaking!
In April, ITAV launched its Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign at https://igg.me/at/WSPRwanda for the 2023 WSP. So far, $14,800 of the $50,000 fundraising goal has been reached, with a $25,000 match donation pledged by Allstate for the trip set for late June.
Overall, this travel experience to Rwanda will enable WSP participants to better understand the complexities and commonalities of Rwandan life. Since 2010, these unique learning experiences and opportunities have broadened our students’ perspectives, enabling them to recognize their privileges as American citizens while simultaneously expanding their expectations, visions, and social justice endeavors for their own lives.
After World Scholars Program trips, our students have been inspired to become diplomats, philanthropists, humanitarians, school founders, environmental scientists, and international entrepreneurs.
For more information about ITAV Family of Schools, visit www.itavschools.org.
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